The Forum Pages

When you enter the Forum you first visit the Index page. This shows the various categories of conversation. Selecting a Category takes you to a Category Page.

Category Page

A Category page shows a list of topics with most recent first. At the top and bottom of the list are buttons for:

New Topic - to post a message on a new topic. See below

Mark Topics read - All messages in all topics in this Category will all be marked as read.

Subscribe - The Forum will start emailing you copies of any new messages in this Category.

Unsubscribe - The Forum will stop emailing you copies messages for this Category.

You can see the messages by clicking on a Topic.

Topic Page

Each Topic page shows recent messages posted on the selected Topic. At the top and bottom of the message list are buttons for:

Reply Topic - To add a new message to this conversation

Subscribe - The Forum will start emailing you copies of new messages for this Topic.

Unsubscribe - The Forum will stop emailing you copies of messages for this Topic.

Favourite - Marks the topic with a star on the Category Page and select My Topics to help you find it again.

Beneath each message are buttons for:

Thank you - Thanks the message sender without creating a new message

Quick Reply - Opens a simple message box.

Reply - Starts a new window with a full-featured editor.

Quote - As Reply but includings the current message as a quote. Please trim the old message to the parts you are replying to.

Tabs on the Forum windows

Logged-in DBA Members will see a number of tabs across the top of its pages. Many of these are not available to guests. The tabs visible depend on the page in view and how you reached it!

Index - Takes you to the Index page.

Recent Topics - Shows recent posts to the Forum

New Topic - To post a message on a new subject (topic). See below.

No Replies - Shows messages which nobody has replied to.

My Topics - Lists topics which you have started or marked as Favourite. Also information about the Forum and people using it.

Profile - Details about yourself to introduce you to other members. As much or little as you like but a picture of your boat as your 'avatar' would be nice.

Rules - Rules for using the DBA Forum. Please read these before using the Forum!

Help - This page!

Search - For searching through all past messages. Please use this before asking a question - it may already have an answer!

Private Messaging - A facility to send a message directly to another member without knowing their email address. The message will only be seen when they visit the online Forum unless they have chosen to receive them by email using the settings on this tab.

To Reply to an existing message.

Reply Buttons

Quick Reply - Opens a simple message box. It is recommended to use Quick Reply.

Reply Topic, Reply and Quote - All open a full-featured editor. Members getting messages by email may have difficulty reading the message composed with this.

Attachments

Some common types of files can be attached to online forum posts. These are currently (Mar 2012) txt, rtf, pdf, doc, xls, jpg, zip, tar.gz, tgz, tar.bz2.

Subscribing

When you post a message on the Forum, you will be emailed a copy of any reply to the topic - unless you un-tick the Subscribe checkbox below the message. You can stop these emails with the 'Unsubscribe' button on the Topic page. See 'Managing Subscriptions' below for more detail.

Editing after posting

Editing posts after clicking Submit is not allowed. Just post the correction as a new message. The reasons are

People following a thread by email will NOT see the correction.

Anyone who has already read the post online is unlikely to see the correction so they may still think a poster is illiterate or wrong unless they see a correction post.

If a mistake needs correcting for the archives, so that people searching for information are not misled, the moderators will be happy to correct the post if asked - after the correction has been posted.